Argentina: Treasury Minister announces tax reform plan
The Treasury Minister, Nicolas Dujovne, on October 31, 2017, announced a tax reform plan. This proposed tax reform includes tax procedure law, corporate income tax reduction, criminal law, individual income tax, social security contributions,
See MoreKorea: National Assembly set to increase e-cigarette taxes
On 20 October 2017, the Assembly Strategy and Finance Subcommittee of Korea passed a revised bill to increase the excise tax levied on a pack of 20 heat-not-burn (HNB) e-cigarettes sticks to 529 won from the current 126 won. The tax increase will
See MoreIndia: HC declares anti-tobacco Act ultra vires
On 27 October 2017, the Gauhati High Court in a crucial judgment, declared the existing anti-tobacco law in the State as ultra vires. The Court of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Paran Phukan struck down the Assam Health (prohibition of manufacturing,
See MorePhilippines: Government seizes illicit cases of cigarettes without tax stamps
According to the Department of Finance (DoF) The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on 16th October 2017 banned hundreds of mastercases of illicit cigarettes in Nueva Ecija. The DoF said, “The warehouse
See MoreNigeria: Alert notice for smokers
The Youth Action on Tobacco Control and Health (YATCH), an NGO, has appreciated the Federal Government’s plan to increase tobacco tax. The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, on October 25, 2017, said that the government might increase the
See MoreOECD: Comments published on tax challenges of digitalisation
On 27 October 2017 the OECD published comments received on the tax challenges of digitalization. A request for input had been published on 22 September 2017 inviting responses from interested parties with a deadline of 13 October 2017. Despite this
See MoreOECD: Implementation guidance for VAT on cross-border sales
On 24 October 2017 the OECD issued new implementation guidance on collecting consumption taxes on cross-border sales. The document is entitled “Mechanisms for the Effective Collection of VAT/GST Where the Supplier is Not Located in the
See MoreRussia: Government proposes to introduce an environmental tax on cigarettes
The Ministry of health of Russia proposed to introduce an environmental tax on cigarettes for manufacturers, according to a draft of the “concept of state policy on combating tobacco consumption for years 2017-2022 and beyond”. This is
See MoreUAE: MoF still works with VAT regulations
The Ministry of Finance is still in the process of preparing the executive VAT regulation, in coordination with the concerned authorities. The Finance Ministry is committed to working with the highest levels of transparency and disclosure
See MorePakistan: Ministries of the NHS directs government to make cigarettes inaccessible to the citizens
Recently, the ministries of national health services (NHS) and the finance department have been asked to implement the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Agreement on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to make cigarettes inaccessible to citizens by
See MoreOECD: Report on peer reviews of preferential tax regimes
A report released by the OECD on 16 October 2017 noted that countries are dismantling or amending almost 100 preferential tax regimes as part of the implementation of standards under the project on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). The report
See MoreIreland: Budget for 2018
On 10 October 2017, the Irish government presented details of the Budget 2018. This budget delivers the Government’s long standing target of balancing the books in structural terms next year by reaching the Medium Term Budgetary Objective better
See MoreChina, EEU complete negotiations on economic and trade cooperation agreement
China and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) have finished substantial negotiations on an economic and trade cooperation agreement, the Ministry of Commerce said on Oct 1 in a statement. Zhong Shan, China’s commerce minister, signed a joint
See MoreZambia: Budget for 2018
Finance Minister of Zambia presented the 2018 National Budget for the year 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018 to the National Assembly on 29th September 2017. Budget for 2018, which lays out the various expenditure and revenue measures aimed at
See MoreEuropean Commission proposes far reaching VAT reform plans
The European Commission published plans on 4 October 2017 that would fundamentally change the current VAT system applied by EU Member States. The proposals are aimed on the one hand at cutting back on VAT fraud, and on the other at simplifying
See MoreEuropean Commission Communication on taxation of digital business
Following on from a call for action from four EU finance ministers, the European Commission published a report on 21 September 2017 setting out the issues on how to tax digital business and some possible solutions. These included, by way of short
See MoreCanada: CETA Trade Agreement enters into force
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and European Union came into force on September 21, 2017. The CETA is a progressive free trade agreement that covers virtually all sectors and aspects of Canada-EU trade in order
See MoreUAE: Excise tax on tobacco, energy and soft drinks enters into effect
The Ministry of Finance was published the implementing regulations to the Excise Tax Law. This Excise Tax Law regarding production of excise goods in the UAE, import of excise goods in the UAE, release of excise goods from a designated zone and
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